


To The End

by joestars



Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Future Fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-18
Updated: 2018-12-18
Packaged: 2019-09-21 15:50:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,518
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17046491
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/joestars/pseuds/joestars
Summary: Adam wanted to be a father.By all means, this wasn’t a new revelation. It was more like a constant; he knew that one day, he’d want to adopt a child. There was a time, when he was seventeen going on eighteen and still reliving the scars his father gave him, that Adam believed he was too ruined to have anything good. That if he had a child of his own, he’d somehow turn into Robert Parrish. So, he vowed to never let anyone into his life, never marry, never have kids, never continue the cycle of abuse.But then Ronan entered his life.





	To The End

Adam wanted to be a father.

By all means, this wasn’t a new revelation. It was more like a constant; he knew that one day, he’d want to adopt a child. There was a time, when he was seventeen going on eighteen and still reliving the scars his father gave him, that Adam believed he was too ruined to have anything good. That if he had a child of his own, he’d somehow turn into Robert Parrish. So, he vowed to never let anyone into his life, never marry, never have kids, never continue the cycle of abuse.

But then Ronan entered his life. And then Opal came. Back then, Adam was still seventeen, going on eighteen, and in no position to raise a child, but he managed to catch a glimpse at what his life could be. That he didn’t have to isolate himself in order to avoid abuse. It was freeing.

Opal was a sister to Ronan, and a sister-in-law to Adam. It was fun, being able to be an older brother. Despite all the magical nonsense wrecking havoc on their lives, Adam felt like he really had made his own family. Logically, he knew he was young and that probably (maybe, he told himself) the teenage love he shared with Ronan would fizzle out but he let himself hope (and want) for this to be his future. They weren’t perfect back then, but they were getting better.

University called and Adam’s dreams were put on hold as he tried to build his future. The distance was hard and the heartache harder; The Barns were still an unspoken hurdle. Adam knew his future was far, far away from Henrietta and it was at odds with Ronan’s. They wrote letters to one another (Ronan dreamed up an army of carrier pigeons) and visited whenever possible; Adam would do his assignments in the backseat of the BMW while they drove to motels and Ronan would bring homemade cheeses that tasted of raspberries. It was good.

Opal would sometimes write her own letters to him, her scribbles barely eligible but incredibly endearing. He loved being a brother.

Halfway through his second year, Ronan arrived at his doorstep at 5:00pm on the dot. It was an entirely unplanned trip but he had shown up with two overflowing suitcases, a birdcage, and Opal, who was in a yellow raincoat with yellow wellingtons and a yellow umbrella. It wasn’t raining. While it took some explaining and a lot of time, Adam finally understood. A happiness that’s firmly tied to a place that isolates you from the world isn’t true happiness.

Thanks to Declan’s connections and the Lynch’s extensive wealth, it was relatively easy to find an apartment to rent on such short notice. The Barns wasn’t an unspoken hurdle anymore. It was simply a second house, now.

They didn’t want to jump straight into living together. Adam had an set of keys to the apartment, of course he did, and said apartment was walking distance from the university but it still felt too soon.

Ronan enrolled Opal in an online school and Adam helped her with homework whenever he could. Ronan decided to make music and Adam was an honest critic. For a while, the future had seemed foggy but with each passing day, it was becoming clearer. He felt at home in the shabby little apartment, with poorly painted walls and dream things scattered across the floors and an empty study that was waiting for when Adam was ready. God, he wanted to kiss Ronan’s stupid face and marry him and grow old with that idiot.

Another year later, Adam got his bachelor’s and decided to pursue a master’s. The decision was easy, he was supported with love, grant money and another scholarship. He moved in during the summer; Ronan complained ceaselessly as he helped carry Adam’s boxes up five flights of stairs in the sweltering heat. That night, he dreamed up ice cubes that could melt and reform over and over again. That morning, Adam had woken up completely soaked.

 

—————

 

“Are you awake?” He sighed into Ronan’s shoulder. It was late but there was a lot on his mind. “Lynch, wake up.” Adam said, a little more forcefully this time, and gave him a shove.

“Jesus, what do you want?” When Ronan was tired, his voice became gravelly and that fact pleased Adam to no ends.

“Blue and Gansey are getting married soon.”

“Yeah, no shit Sherlock.” Ronan scoffed and sat up a little, “Why? What’s wrong?”

It was too dark to see but Adam rolled his eyes, “Nothing’s wrong. I was just thinking about it.”

“Wondering how they’re gonna kiss at the altar with that freaky curse, huh?”

Adam threw a pillow at him.

 

—————

 

It was exactly one summer after Gansey and Blue got hitched that they found themselves talking about marriage during the dead of night, again. But this time, it was Ronan who shook Adam awake.

“Wake the fuck up, Parrish.” He hiss-whispered, “I don’t have time for your beauty sleep right now.”

Adam groaned, “Go away, I have to get up early tomorrow.”

“It’s _important._ ”

“Oh, that changes everything. If you need to pee, just roll over me. I’m not getting out of bed.”

“Fuck off, I mean it this time.” There was a desperation to his voice that made Adam pay attention, “It’s important.”

“What’s wrong?” He asked, trying to blink the sleep away from his eyes.

“Nothing’s wrong.” Ronan said as he did indeed roll over Adam and fall flat on the floor.

Right as Adam started laughing at him, Ronan turned their bedside lamp on and got down on a knee, opening up a little black box with a ring carved from wood inside. “Adam fucking Parrish, we’ve been through hell and back and you still love my sorry ass. Will you marry me?”

 

—————

 

Adam cried when they got married. Ronan cried, too. It was all ugly sobbing and shin kicks from Opal. They decided to have a small ceremony in a clearing in a beautiful forest just outside of town. School commitments made it impossible to go too far but it was perfect, anyway. Well, as perfect as it can be when Opal decided to eat the flowers instead of throwing them and Gansey outcried the two of them.

 

—————

 

When Adam got his master’s, they decided to move. It was time. The shabby apartment had treated the three of them well but they were starting to outgrow it. Adam knew it would always be his first home and for a second, he understood why it had been so hard for Ronan to say goodbye to The Barns for all those years.

They moved around quite a bit for a while before Adam secured his dream job. Their new apartment was walking distance from his work. _And_ it had a master bedroom.

For the first time in a while, Adam really thought about having children. They were in their late twenties now, they had grown and while they were still a little childish, they were more stable than ever before. They weren’t perfect but they were getting there.

However, he wasn’t really sure how to bring it up to Ronan. It was a worry, that dream might be a dealbreaker. What if he didn’t want to raise a child? What if Adam would have to choose between two futures?

 

—————

 

“Ronan.” Adam whispered, “Are you awake?”

“I am now.” Even after all this time, Ronan was still grumpy when woken up.

Suddenly, his mouth went dry. It was a stupid idea to spring the question at this time of night. “Never mind, go back to sleep.”

“Well, I can’t really do that now.” He sat up a bit and turned on the lamp next to him, “What’s up?”

It was more intimidating to ask it when the lights were on and he could see him clearly. “Um,” Adam began, “Do you… I… Do you think you’re ready for kids?”

“What?” Now Ronan was really awake and sitting upright.

“It’s a stupid question, just go back to sleep.”

“No, shut up, that’s not a stupid question.” He said, taking Adam’s hand. “Do you want baby goats?”

“I’m being serious, Lynch.” Adam let out half a laugh, “I want children, one day. I need to know if you do, too.”

Ronan took a while to answer, he traced little circles on Adam’s palms. “Fuck - yeah, I do.”

“Really?” The answer was a complete surprise - Adam had been planning for a worst case scenario. “Are you sure? You’re not just saying that?”

“Yes, _really._ ” Ronan scoffed, “I didn’t think you wanted any.”

They were both silent for a while; the clock beside Adam flashed 3:12am and reminded him that he had three more hours to sleep.

“I want to start a family.” He finally said after Ronan had laid back down. They were still holding hands.

Ronan leaned in to kiss him and mumbled a “me too” against his lips.

For the first time in ever, the future seemed certain. The fog had cleared away.

**Author's Note:**

> Just a sweet short thing that is completely unedited! I have a lot of feelings about these two and I had to get them out on paper
> 
> If there's any spelling mistakes or grammatical errors, let me know! 
> 
> Tumblr: armenianbf


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